The Not So Sleeping Beauty
by rocketstar
Summary: What can you say about Paige Fitzpatrick? That she was a young woman who died before she truly lived her life? Perhaps. But Paige isn't dead. Paige Fitzpatrick on the other hand is. However Paige Cullen lives, but as a vampire with her family who have just moved to a small sleepy town called Forks, a place where nothing interesting ever happened to, right?
1. Chapter 1

_Paige couldn't remember how she died. Not entirely anyway. She remembered the accident that led to her dying but not the actual dying part. _

* * *

_It was a car accident in the early hours of August 6th 1961, the air was humid given that it was August and Paige was driving herself and her two friends Molly and Siobhan home after dancing the night away. Thinking about the accident Paige couldn't say that the car just appeared out of nowhere because she did see it. Speeding down the road but then it began swerving, that's when she lost sight of it until mere seconds before it hit them or rather Paige as the car smashed into the driver's side of the car. What happened next Paige had no recollection of until she woke up in the hospital where her friends were crying, the doctor was there and he said lots of things that Paige didn't really understand until he explained it in layman's terms. She was dying. As she lay in the bed Paige swallowed the large lump in her throat before asking her friends and the doctor to leave her alone for a while as she wanted to think and once then had gone, it was her turn to cry because she didn't want to die. She was eighteen years old, just out of high school and about to start college in the fall. She had a family, friends and her boyfriend Johnny who was the love of her life. Paige had barely lived her life and now she was going to die. It wasn't fair. _

_Paige could remember laying in bed quietly crying when she felt something cold in her hand and she looked over to a see a man holding her hand, Paige was so caught off guard by how young and handsome this stranger was that she seemed to forget everything for the briefest of seconds. He was a doctor Paige figured by the white coat and stethoscope round his neck but there was something about him but Paige couldn't place what it was, all she knew was that he was showing kindness to her despite not knowing her. For some reason Paige felt safe. She asked for his name and he told her it was Carlisle. Paige said it in her head before telling Carlisle that she didn't want to die. Carlisle gently assured her that it was okay, taking Paige by surprise when he added her name at the end of his sentence given that she had never told him her name. But then again he was a doctor and her father had always told her that doctors were the smartest people in the world, next to the president of course. Paige asked if he'd stay with her until the end and he promised he would. And hours later she was dead. For the most part. On that day, August 6th 1961 Paige Fitzpatrick died and Paige began her new life as a vampire as Paige Cullen._

Forty years. That's how long Paige had been living her new life and during that time she had learnt a lot of things but the main thing was that first days of school always sucked, especially when you were a vampire who was about to start high school for the umpteenth time as Paige discovered round about first twenty years of being a vampire. Being a vampire who lived with other vampire, who were all stuck at various perpetual ages meant that Paige and her adopted family had to move around every few years because they tended to stick out a bit and people would notice if they never aged. Plus with the recent technological developments that had happened with in the last hundred years then had to be even more careful. Camera, cctv and televisions were all things that could potential expose them along with identification that required birth records along with pictures. Surviving with humans seemed to get even harder but yet being a predator at times helped, as they learnt to adapt in order to survive which is why Paige was about to start her first day of her freshman year yet again but this time in Forks, a small town in Washington that had less than 3,200 people according to it's last census that was done in 2000. Small towns could be a blessing or a curse depending on how things played out but in a town like Forks where it rained practically most of the year? It was a blessing to vampires given that they drew a lot of attention to themselves if they were under direct sunlight. Unlike mythology they didn't burst into flames and die, they could survive but it was complicated enough that they avoided being around humans when it was a nice sunny day. Idly dragging her feet, Paige let out a sigh that was a mix between boredom and contentment.

"Excited?"

"About starting school yet again? Don't be so ridiculous Edward, I'm clearly _thrilled_ about being a freshman again..." Paige drily quipped turning to the bronzed haired teenager to her left as she finished zipping up the jacket that was for display purposes only. Her response gather a smiled from one of her many 'brothers' she gained when she became a vampire many years ago.

Paige still found it hard to believe that at one point in her life she was only hours away from death and now here she was, alive for the most part and a vampire. When she had told Carlisle that she didn't want to die, Paige had no idea that he'd be able to do anything about that but he did and he gave her the greatest thing that she could ask for; life as well as a family. When Paige woke up from the transformation Carlisle explained everything to Paige and she'd admit that it took her sometime for the news to sink it especially the part about how she could never see her family again. But as she lost a family she regained another; The Cullens. Paige had been welcomed into Carlisle and his family's lives with welcome arms and had been there ever since, no longer was Paige Fitzpatrick but Paige Cullen.

"It's only four years, it'll fly by." Edward assured Paige who just narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance, that's what he told her about Alaska and that went painfully and annoyingly slow.

"You've been hanging around with Alice way too much as her optimism is starting to brush off on you Ed, you sound like Alice when she attempts to give me one of her pep talks that she knows I hate." Paige grimly noted before sighing, she knew what was coming next without being the family mind reader. "No doubt Alice is giving Jasper a pep talk right now and your filling in for her right now when it comes to my talk about today. Don't worry, I won't kill anyone… This time."

"Paige..." Edward began.

"We fed last night. There is _nothing_ to worry about, we'll be fine." Paige stated putting emphasis on the word nothing before walking away from Edward towards the garage. If Paige had to state what was the worst thing about being a vampire, she'd have to say the blood cravings. Blood was an essential part of the vampire thing and the Cullens were what they liked to call 'vegetarians' as they only drank animal blood to survive. Problem was that Jasper had only been on animal blood about fifty years or so so he was having difficulty handling this new diet even after being a vampire for a more than a century but before he had adopted his new diet, he was basically a hardcore human blood drinker. Then Paige was newest vampire in the coven and despite only ever feeding on human blood once during her forty years of being a vampire, human blood was still very much tempting although less so since her newborn period was over. Paige had fell of the so called wagon pretty hard about fifteen years ago and got a taste for human blood. It had been pretty damn messy but she was back on it the wagon. However the rest of the family were concerned about her and Jasper being unable to keep their urges under control so the two of them were pretty mollycoddle by the rest of the family, in particular Alice and Edward much to Paige's irritation. They got the same speech about staying in control, reminding themselves to think of the humans as people speech constantly especially when they moved to a new place.

"I already hate this place, it's so small and there's always nothing to do." Rosalie darkly commented to Emmett as Paige walked into the garage.

"Thus the appeal of the place Rose, there are less people to draw attention to ourselves not to mention it rains here like three hundred days out of the year, so can we please save the skepticism until i've had a chance to detest the place for myself?" Paige quipped, forcing a smile on her face as she needed her family to think that everything was fine. That she could handle herself and wouldn't need them to babysit her like she was a child despite the fact that she knew that would never happen. Regardless Paige smiled as she opened her car door and placed her book bag on the passenger seat, whilst Rosalie and some of the other Cullens had lived in Forks previously, it was a first was some of them.

Rosalie couldn't help but smirk at Paige. "You'll hate this place by the end of the day Paige."

"We'll see about that Rose." Paige retorted in a challenging manner as whilst the majority of her family had lived in Forks previously a while ago, this was Paige's first time in the small town. So she wasn't going to write off the town just yet. Given the fact that it rained a whole lot of the time and had a lot of cloud cover too, it had potential for a young vampire like Paige trying to live as much of a normal life as she could.

"Can't believe your seriously driving that thing Fitz." Emmett commented referring to Paige's car; a navy volkswagen bug using her family nickname of 'Fitz' which was a nod to her previous surname of Fitzpatrick and Paige just smirked. She'd always miss being a Fitzpatrick but Paige was a Cullen now. Whilst the rest of her family had an appreciation for fast cars Paige didn't, firstly because it was a speeding car that had practically killed her and secondly there was not one car that she couldn't outrun.

"Well you better believe it Emmett because your about to watch me drive off in it!" Paige replied feeling marginally better thanks to Emmett albeit it at the expense of an insult towards her car. This day was going to be heard enough with six vampires who didn't look normal trying to blend in at the local high school that was tiny yet filled full with humans but Paige also had to worry about Alice and Edward keeping a close eye on her and scrutinising her every move. So having Emmett tease her in a playful manner made Paige feel just a tad bit better.

"Do what you gotta do Fitz, but don't expect me to ride with you."

Paige laughed as she climbed into her car. "I never offered you a ride Emmett to begin, so you and Rose have fun riding with the others and I'll see you all at school..."

So Paige knew first days sucked but never had it sucked this bad and by lunch she was in a pretty fowl mood and it wasn't all the attention that her and the rest of her family were attracting because she was used to it. Vampires were naturally 'attractive' to lure their prey towards them so having humans pointing and staring was nothing new. The other kids weren't that big of a problem although Paige was finding it hard to concentrate due to the different scents all around her, despite the fact that she had fed only yesterday she was feeling very overwhelmed and every so often her imagine wondered off to how she would attack whoever her eyes drifted onto. She could just see it in her mind, the constant dry ache that she had in her throat for the last forty two years finally being satisfied by the taste of fresh human blood. Right now it was on some blonde girl who had just walked past them and trying to pretend that she hadn't been starting at them.

"Paige."

Blinking a few times to pull herself back to reality Paige moved her gaze away from the blonde girl and over to Edward who said her name at such a high pitch that no human could ever possibly hear it. Another perk of being a vampire she guessed. _Go away._

"Focus." Edward quietly said, thus alerting the rest of the family to that had been going on and if Paige could still blush she was certain that her face would be tomato red right now. Instead she looked down and fiddled with the food on her tray that was never going to be eaten, just there for show to try and make the teenagers of fork think that the Cullens were normal. As she did Paige noticed a look between Edward and Alice from the corner of her eye. Even though she couldn't read minds Paige could tell what was going on between Alice and Edward, whilst her brother was reading her thoughts. The two of them probably knew that she was very irritated by this and hadn't been discouraged by Paige spending half the day singing italian opera at the top of her lungs in her head and imagining killing both of them. Now Paige loved her family very much but sometimes Alice and Edward made it very difficult for her, treating like her fragile china doll that was moments away from breaking but instead of smashing into a thousand pieces they were worrying about her massacring an entire town. Paige understood why they were being so protective because of what happened last time but she hadn't massacred an entire town, she had killed three people and she regretted what happened very much. But it was fifteen years ago, they need to trust her again.

_I wasn't going to do it. _ Paige thought, knowing full well that Edward could hear her as he couldn't help but hear everything that she was thinking. Normally he tried to give her and the rest of the family privacy and tried to refrain from eavesdropping but when it came to situations like these there was no such thing as privacy given that Edward and Alice were tasked with making sure nothing happened that would jeopardise them all here of all places as there was some treaty in place with some tribe in LaPush.

"We know." Alice said giving Paige a smile and encouraging smile, whilst Edward could read minds Alice could read the future although it often changed depending on the choices people made. So Alice knew as much as Paige was tempted and wanted to taste that girl's blood she had decided not to because as much as she wanted to, she loved her family even more.

Paige ignored Alice and instead looked over to Jasper and met his eyes briefly before getting up and leaving , she needed a moment away from her family in order to gather her thoughts together so she picked up her tray and discarded it's contents before making her way out of the cafeteria. Paige wasn't even ten meters out of the cafeteria when she felt all the anxiety, cravings and annoyance slip away to be replaced with a familiar calmness and turned around to see Jasper; her fellow sufferer. "You got my signal, I wasn't sure whether or not you had picked it up.

"Of course I did." Jasper quietly responded, referring to the signal that the two of them had between each other for when one of them was feeling overwhelmed and need to have a 'meeting' as Paige called. Since her and Jasper were the ones with the biggest blood craving problem, she and Jasper had their own little Alcohol Anonymous group. Although their problem wasn't alcohol but they did have an addiction that was sort of similar to alcoholism and they were both trying to stay sober and they figured they would help each other out. Hence their 'AA' meetings. "What's up Paige?"

"They are suffocating me Jazz! I have had to endure Alice and Edward flanked at both my sides during every lesson no doubt reading my thoughts and checking my future. Is it too late for me to be a sophomore with you guys instead of being stuck with the two of them for the rest of the next four years? I would much rather have Rose and Emmett baby me all day as it's a lot more tolerable as I know they aren't having conversation about me in their minds." Paige stated with a sigh, as much as she loved her family they also had the ability to test her sanity frequently.

"Afraid so Fitz." Jasper replied and Paige wearily smiled, knowing this to be true even before she had even asked the question.

"I'd wish they'd trust me, it's been fifteen years since what happened and I am sorry about what happened. I have to live with the guilt everyday and since then I have not had a drop of human blood. I admit that the cravings are there but I don't give in to them. I'm trying my hardest but it's not exactly easy with everyone watching over my shoulder all the time." Paige quietly admitted.

"I know. It's not just you but me too." Jasper replied.

Paige allowed herself to smile. Whilst she was proud to be in the vampires version of alcoholics anonymous, she was grateful that she wasn't alone. That she had Jasper to talk, that she could tell him anything about what she was feeling and her cravings as he wouldn't judge because he had similar cravings too. No matter how bad Paige could sometimes feel about her struggles, she could always count on Jasper to remind her that she wasn't alone in this and give her a pep talk that somehow made her not feel like a complete failure.

"Some first day, huh?"


	2. Chapter 2

Today was harder than Paige had initially anticipated and it wasn't just because of the whole bloodlust thing or the fact that she was a freshman again. It was something else and as soon as the bell, signaling the end of the day went Paige was out of her seat and made her way out of the door and walked in a hurried yet slow manner to the car park as not to draw too much attention to himself. Paige wanted to be out of this place and as far away as possible, right now she wanted a bit of distance away from her siblings. So Paige knew that she couldn't go home at this moment, given how tense she was currently feeling the moment that she walked through the door Esme would know something was wrong, so Paige had to go somewhere else. Climbing into her car, Paige idly tossed her bag into the front passenger's seat and shutting the door behind her, Paige just sat there for thirty seconds. She didn't do anything, Paige just sat there and took several deep breaths before placing her hands on the steering wheel. It took a moment for Paige to gather her thoughts together but once she did, she decided where she wanted, or rather where she needed to go after such a stressful day and that was the hospital. It was an odd place for Paige of all people to go given that there were lots of people there with plenty of blood which meant plenty of temptation but it also had the one person who she could always talk to about anything; Carlisle.

Since the day Paige had met him, Carlisle hadn't changed a bit and he was the still the kind, patient and not to mention warm man who sat next to her and comforted her as she lay dying and after the day she had, Paige needed to talk someone who wouldn't make her feel like an idiot so she drove to the hospital. When she arrived at the hospital, the smell of the sick and industrial cleaning products hit Paige immediately which made her suppose why it was so easy for Carlisle to be around sick people all day. Carlisle was over three hundred years old and had never drunk a drop of human blood since he became a vampire, his control was incredibly and then the fact that he become a doctor and worked so close with humans on a daily basis for so long that the smell of blood no longer bothered him. For Paige, Carlisle was her unreachable idol. He was pretty much perfection.

Forks' hospital was small, so it wasn't too hard to find Carlisle's office but when Paige got there, it was empty so she wondered down the hallway to attempt to find him. But she had to be careful of where she went, already knowing that the ER was the last place she should go as that would just be asking for her to fall of the wagon again. As she idly wondered around the halls, Paige made an effort as to not draw any more wanted attention to herself as the last thing she wanted to do was get Carlisle into trouble. Given the size of the hospital, it didn't take Paige too long to track down her adoptive father. Carlisle was in the middle of a conversation with a man with curly brown hair, who was 6ft tall and average built and wearing a uniform of some sorts and Paige quietly made her way over and gently tapped Carlisle on the shoulder, who looked surprised yet pleased to see her.

"Charlie, may I introduce you to my youngest daughter Paige Cullen." Carlisle began making introductions. "Paige this is Chief Swan, the chief of police here in Forks.

Paige flashed Chief Swan her best and brightest smile in an effort to distract and dissuade him from wanting to shake hands because it often led to a lie about some medical condition to explain why her hands were so cold to a human's touch. "It's a pleasure to meet you Chief Swan."

"It's nice to meet you Paige, we're very luck to have your father here in Forks." Charlie replied before thanking Carlisle and quickly making his leave, leaving Paige and Carlisle alone and the two of them headed back to his office so the two of them could speak in private and once the door was shut, Paige let out a deep breath and proceeded to sit down on the floor. It was an old and odd quirk of hers to relax her whenever she was feeling anxious about something.

"So what brings you here Paige? Not that there has to be any reason for you to stop by whilst I'm at work." Carlisle questioned.

"I thought that I'd be fine today given that we've done the whole new thing plenty of times now but today was difficult, harder then I thought it would be despite the precautions I took and I just had to get away for a bit because my head is all over the place..." Paige wearily said as she glanced up at her adoptive father, Carlisle was nowhere near old enough to be her hard father let alone the adoptive father of six children. Carlisle was technically three hundred and three years older than her but physically he was only five years older than her. Paige had been 18 when she had been turned into a vampire whilst Carlisle had been 23. Despite that Paige very much considered Carlisle to be her father and it wasn't just in name only or as part of their cover story. Whilst Carlisle would never replaced Paige's biological father, it didn't mean she could love them both as Carlisle had been an excellent surrogate father. On several occasions he reminded Paige of her father which made the ache of messing him much less.

"What happened?" Carlisle questioned and he didn't sound angry or annoyed about anything in the slightest, if it was Rose she'd definitely be annoyed at the fact that Paige was struggling and was possible moments away from falling off the wagon and forcing them to move yet again, but Carlisle? That wasn't at the forefront of his mind, his main priority was worrying about Paige and it was clear by the tone of his voice which made this all the more harder for Paige as Carlisle had saved her life, shown her nothing but kindness and yet she couldn't repay him for all of that by getting her urges under control.

"Nothing. I was in control of myself the entire time but I had a few urges during school but I wasn't going to hurt anyone. As easy as it would have been for me to jump over the table and start feeding off some random teenager before picking off the rest of them like I was in a buffet line, I didn't do it. I walked away from the situation and then had a meeting with Jasper." Paige said referring to her and Jasper's 'AA' meetings which Carlisle was aware of; it was like a weird family joke of some kind.

"But that's not the problem is it? So what is? Or should I be asking who is the problem? Let me guess, Edward and Alice?" Carlisle said hitting the hammer right on the nail and Paige wearily laughed at her 'father' as he may not be able to read minds like Edward but he knew her and the rest of their family very well.

"Correct, although the urge to kill someone is there but it's just Edward and Alice so it's nothing new... I just grow so tiresome of them always scrutinizing everything I do, with Alice checking my future and Edward reading my mind every time I walk out the door and I understand why they are doing it and I'm trying Carlisle but it's hard and sometimes I don't think it will ever get any easier but I still try. I just wish that the two of them would stop mollycoddling me, it's suffocating what they do and it's honestly driving me up the damn wall and I wish that they could give me some space and trust that the last thing I want to do is draw even more attention to us or dare I say it, expose us. Otherwise I think someday I may snap and end up hurting someone, which is the last thing I want to do." Paige admitted.

"I know that Paige." Carlisle began before pausing momentarily. "I can talk to them both if you like."

Paige snorted at the suggestion, it was a ridiculous suggestion and they both knew it. "I wouldn't both Carlisle, no doubt when I made the choice to come here instead of home Alice saw it, which means so did Edward and their both aware of this conversation. Not to mention the both of them can't help themselves, well actually it's only Edward who can't literally help himself but you get my point... But thank you anyway for the offer anyway, it was nice of you to offer but I just needed to someone who hasn't been treating me like a china doll all day."

"Your welcome, anytime I might add." Carlisle playfully said and Paige couldn't help but smile as she fingered the ends of her long brown hair. "How was your first day of school?"

"Dismal, Rose was right... I would hate it here by the end of the day."

* * *

The first few days were going to be the hardest. That's what Paige always told herself whenever they moved to a new place and it seemed to be true, as although Forks was a good place for them given the lack of rain, the size of the town could eventually become a problem as in small towns people tended to talk a lot. People were naturally fascinated by the Cullen's and how two 'young' people like Carlisle and Esme had six children despite being so young. The story they always told was that Rosalie and Jasper were foster children because they were both blonde and that Paige and Edward were brother and sister as was Alice and Emmett who both had dark hair and they had all been adopted by Carlisle and Esme.

Much of this was done because that Rosalie and Emmett were actually married as were Jasper and Alice. In public they couldn't be siblings in a relationship with each other, so establishing that they weren't actually related was key. Once the kids at school found this out it help widen the gap between them and the rest of the Cullen's. They weren't normal despite their best efforts to try to be and given everything that was their lives they couldn't exactly do the normal friend thing so they intentionally kept to themselves and avoid interacting with the other students unless they had to so within two weeks of them being in Forks, the other kids tended to avoid them. Although Paige noted that isolating themselves from everyone else still drew attention to themselves.

"Paige?"

Looking up from where she was idly reading a book on Irish folklore and myths Paige looked up to see her adoptive parents Esme and Carlisle standing in the doorway of her bedroom. They were the only members of the Cullen's who did not call her by her nickname of Fitz. They chose to call Paige by her given name.

"Hello." Paige replied with a happy smile, she was always happy to see the both of them as they were without a doubt two of the most kindest people she had ever met and without a doubt were meant to be together and their story was a testament to that. Carlisle had met Esme for the first time in 1911 when she was sixteen year and had broken her leg after falling out of a tree. The two of them had been taken with each other but Carlisle soon left Ohio but that was not the last time they would meet. Ten years later they met again in some capacity when Carlisle was called to confirm the death of a woman who had jumped off a cliff after she had lost her son shortly after birth. But the woman who had jumped wasn't dead as Carlisle could hear a faint heartbeat and he recognized the woman as Esme and chose to save her. He turned her into a vampire and soon after they fell in love and eighty years later, they were still as much in love as they were when they were reunited.

"Good day at school?" Carlisle questioned and the moment that he asked Paige felt a smug smirk tugging at her lips, given how blood still appealed to her more so than the others Alice and Edward were still keeping a close tab on her in case she slipped. But today they were just mollycoddling her for reasons other than her bloodlust.

"I didn't kill anyone if that's what you're asking." Paige replied in a sing song voice.

"Of course you didn't." Esme stated in a warm manner and Paige couldn't but smile, her adoptive mother always thought the best of her children. Like Carlisle, if Paige had killed someone again then Esme would instantly have forgiven her.

"But school was fine, nothing happened… Then again nothing happens here in Forks." Paige stated, they had been here a few weeks and not only did Paige hate it here but she was constantly bored and Alice and Edward mere driving her up the wall even more so than usual. But Paige knew why they were here and it wasn't to ask her about how school was, they knew what today was.

"That's good to hear, what are you reading?" Carlisle questioned pointing to the book that was sitting in her lap

Paige looked at the book and smirked, she knew most of the stories from when she was a small child but when a person became a vampire their memories of their previous life tended to fade so reading books about her heritage was her way of holding on to her past and her humanity. Paige may be a Cullen now but she'd always be a Fighting Fitzpatrick as her father used to say. She had been born into a proud Irish American family and her parents Lochlan Fitzpatrick made a habit of reminding his children of where they had come from. Telling them stories of the folklore, making them traditional Irish meals and speaking to them in Irish Gaelic. Paige was desperately trying in vain to hold on to that part of her old life. Paige's father and her mother Maeve all doted on their children and Paige was the second youngest of four children. She had two older siblings William who was commonly known as Billy and Caitlin. Then there was Paige followed by her younger brother Duncan. Her father owned a shipbuilding company that was fairly well off which meant that their family lived very comfortably. Enough so that he could afford to send each of his children to college. When Paige died she was eighteen and weeks away from attending Cornell at college. She missed them everyday and it was hard to believe that she been away from them for over forty years. Her parents had passed about eleven and nine years ago respectfully but her siblings were still alive.

"It's a book on Irish folklore, today is Duncan's birthday he's now fifty eight years old, today made me all nostalgic." Paige admitted, thinking it was a good thing that vampires couldn't cry otherwise she would have spent most of the day bawling like a baby. She couldn't help that she missed her family.

"You miss them." Esme noted.

Paige nodded her head. "It's the knowing that my sister and my brothers are all out there still alive with their own families now and they think I'm dead. I miss them so much and I wish I could be with them but I know I can't. Don't get me wrong, I love the family I have here and I'm glad to be with you all and not dead…"

"It doesn't change the fact that they were your family and you miss them, it's okay Paige. We understand and we wouldn't want you to forget about them." Carlisle assured her.

It was hard for Paige to remain being sad for along when Carlisle and Esme were around and they said things like that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Two years later.**

The blood thirst. That was the thing Paige found the hardest to deal with out of the whole being a vampire situation. The craving was insatiable and constant, calling at her every moment to quench the dryness that she had in her throat. it never really went away, Paige could keep it bay by feeding off animals instead of humans but the cravings were still there, constantly especially when surrounded by walking and talking blood banks. Bit it was tough, it was a constant battle and Paige had fallen off the wagon once before and it had felt good to quench that dry throat that had been plaguing her ever since she had been turned into a vampire. For one brief moment Paige was no longer thirsty, she felt satisfied but then the guilt kicked. The tremendous amount of guilt kicked in over what she had done, Paige had killed three people and all but practically sucked them dry until they were just bones. Even after all this time Paige could remember every single detail of what had gone on that night, all the scents, the blood and the fear of her prey. But what really got to Paige wasn't the guilt but the understanding she got from her family. Carlisle and Esme were so understanding of what happened, they weren't mad or disappointed in the slightest and that was what tore Paige up the worst. After that Paige got herself back on the wagon and promised herself that it would never happen again.

So far it hadn't and despite the fact that everyday was a constant struggle, Paige was coping and there had been no slip ups in the two years that she along with her family had been in Forks. Paige was adjusting as best she could, she dealt with all the human scents that she encountered on a daily basis at school and could get through the day without being moments away from losing control and pouncing on some innocent student.

"No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to fall asleep Fitz, it's never going to happen so you might as well stop trying."

"I wasn't sleeping Emmett, I was just shutting my eyes although you couldn't exactly blame for attempting to fall asleep considering that you are taking an exceedingly long time to feed tonight. I am pretty sure that I have aged about five years since we left the house to go out hunting." Paige quipped as she opened her eyes to look over to her brother from the small boulder she was sitting cross legged on. Although Emmett did have a point, Paige couldn't sleep just like the rest of her family. For some reasons vampires couldn't sleep and that was another one of the things Paige had to adjust to after she became a vampire. Now it just gave Paige more time to focus on reading and her painting. Although Paige missed sleeping, she missed dreaming.

"Aww c'mon Fitz! We're just getting into the swing of things, live a little!" Emmett joyfully chuckled as he stalked after an elk, when it came to hunting mountain lions were Emmett's favourite but as there were none in Forks he had to settle. But Emmett being his highly competitive self, always had to make things a bit of a challenge and he enjoyed nothing more than scaring his prey in order to make the hunt more enjoyable for himself. Paige found Emmett to be the most supporting and understanding out of her entire family when it came to the whole blood lusting thing because unlike Jasper who had starting off feeding humans before turning 'vegetarian' Emmett had started off just like Paige, dealing with all the urges and cravings until he fell of the wagon a couple of times. But given Emmett's nature, he never dwelled on it too long before moving on with his life.

"Oh I think your doing more than enough for the two of us Emmett but please go right and continue…" Paige chuckled as she motioned for her brother to continue, she had fed already but she was still here to keep Emmett company as she enjoyed hanging out with him. Emmett's easygoing nature made him good fun to hang around with him, Paige didn't have to worry about the big stuff when she was Emmett.

Forty minutes later Emmett and Paige walked back into the Cullen home after returning from their little hunting excursion and things were quiet in the house, too quiet. The further they walked into the house Paige felt a light mood in the house but there was this tense atmosphere that Paige picked up on straight away judging by everyone else's facial expressions and body language, something was wrong it was just a question of what was wrong.

"Ok, who died?" Emmett joked and seconds after the words came out of his mouth Edward tensed up and scowled like a moody child.

"What's going on?" Paige slowly questioned.

"Alice had a vision whilst the two of you were gone, it seems like Chief Swan's daughter Isabella is coming back to Forks and from what Alice has seen, she'll have quite an effect on Edward." Carlisle explained in a weary tone and Paige's eyebrow rose in surprise, it wasn't what she was expecting to hear given that it was about Edward and a human girl but it explained the tense yet light mood in the house – which was no doubt down to Jasper – and the fact that Rosalie had an annoyed look on her face which went perfectly well with the scowl Edward had on his face.

"How sure?" Emmett questioned as it was well known that Alice's visions of the future changed quite often as the future was never entirely set in stone.

"I'm not."

"Alice, may I?" Paige quietly questioned and with a small nod Alice made her way over to Paige's side and held out her hand to her.

Paige had an 'ability' or a unique gift as Carlisle called it although that wasn't the words Paige would use to describe it. She wasn't the only one of course, Alice could see the future in a very limited yet wide capacity, Jasper could manipulate the emotions of those around him and Edward could read minds. But what Paige could do was interesting yet she found it oddly disturbing as she could do things that others couldn't, when she touched something and focused on it she saw things. In a nutshell she could see information about an object, person, location or events by a physical touch. Carlisle called it clairvoyance and suspected it was how Paige managed to see the car that hit her own car and inevitably killed her before it had actually hit her and she must have displayed knowledge about the things around in her before she became a vampire. In the end it enabled her to see things and when in physical contact with Alice, it allowed Paige to see Alice's visions and vice versa.

"Of course."

Taking Alice's hand Paige closed her eyes and moments later she saw the vision that had clearly disturbed Edward; it was of him hunting down a dark haired girl in the woods whose eyes were alight of fear as she ran for her life before Edward gave into his lust and went into full predator mood before attacking. Practically drinking the poor girl dry, it wasn't pleasant at all and Paige had to take a deep breath once she opened her eyes. "Oh…"

"Exactly." Alice quietly replied.

"What happens now?" Paige questioned.

"We leave, it's the only viable option before anything happens." Rose angrily stated and Paige couldn't help but frown slightly, she didn't understand why her sister was getting upset about something that hadn't happened?"

"Rose, the future is not set in stone you know that. Maybe Edward kills the girl, maybe he doesn't…" Emmett offered.

"Thanks Emmett…" Edward sarcastically responded.

"And you're willing to take that risk? To risk us and some girl?" Rosalie demanded.

"There won't be a risk because we won't let anything happen, Alice vision may not come true at all but your right in the fact that we can't ignore this Rose but we can try and stop it from happening, it's that or we move again and do you really want to be starting your sophomore year again?" Paige questioned and Rosalie didn't respond which gave them their answer. They would stay here in Forks and await the arrival of Isabella Swan…

* * *

The Moon sat high in the night's sky, with it's reflection being cast over the Calawah River. It was a beautiful yet chilly night in Forks for only the beginning of January but Paige wasn't here to look at the view or admire the river. She was here for Edward. The last couple of months Edward had been wound up tighter than a spring ever since Alice had that vision of him killing Chief Swan's daughter. More recently Edward had become more depressed and sullen not to mention irritable, which Paige put down to the fact that Isabella Swan would be arriving in Forks in exactly two weeks. Making her way close to the riverbank the only thing that could be heard was the sound of leaved being crunched under Paige's boots. Edward didn't turn to face her as Paige knew that he knew she was here without hearing the leaves or turning around as it was damn near impossible to sneak up on Edward.

"Hey, Alice told me that you were out here so I figured that I'd come out here and join for a bit and talk. I'm worried about you Edward." Paige said as she stood shoulder to shoulder with him and looked out towards the river.

"I'm fine Paige." Edward stated.

"Looking I'm here telling you this because I don't believe your fine and I seem to be the only one who has a problem with walking around on eggshells in regards to you. Edward Anthony Mason Cullen, you are not fine and bottling this all up isn't going to end well, so talk to me Ed. Please, I'm worried about you." Paige pleaded.

"I know everyone is worried about me killing the Swan girl, I don't like that either…" Edward began.

"If you kill her, this Swan girl. It won't be the end of the world Edward as none of us perfect, not even Carlisle although he does come pretty close to it. I'm not Rose, my biggest concern isn't that you'll kill Isabella Swan and what complications that may bring but rather for you. All of this must be mentally exhausting. But it's okay to be scared Edward, it's okay to fear the unknown." Paige assured her brother.

"But there is no unknown Paige, thanks to Alice we know that Isabella Swan is coming to forks and that I will kill her."

"Why are you resigning yourself to something that has yet to happen and may possible never happen? You know better than anyone that Alice's visions are subjective and she sometimes see things which never come to pass." Paige questioned as she turned to look at Edward properly who was wearing a bored and miserable look on his face, which wasn't unusual as Edward was the brooding forever lonely type whilst Paige was one of those perfectly content and happy being by themselves type. If you gave them a cup filled with water and asked whether it was half full or half empty, Edward would say that it's half empty where as Paige would say it's half full before asking why it had to be water and if she couldn't have an Irish coffee instead. She was an optimist by nature or rather by birth, her parents always looked on the bright side of things so she grew up being a rather positive person. Which was heighted when she became a vampire although Paige wasn't as optimistic, peppy and full of spirit constantly like Alice.

"But some things do Paige! Some things do happen like Alice finding Jasper and finding us–" Edward began.

"–That is completely the opposite of what we're talking about. Your talking about Alice seeing a vision of her true love and finding the most real family she ever had. There is a difference between that and somebody getting killed! But whilst we're on that subject don't you remember what happened in the eighties to me? What I almost did." Paige retorted and Edward looked at Paige before returning to look at the river but just because he didn't answer didn't mean Paige was finished. "Alice had that vision of me killing that couple who had an accident and somehow found our house in Oregon. She had no idea when it was going to happen but all she knew was that they were going to turn up at the door and I'd answer it and kill them before they could even ask for directions. Do you remember that?"

"I do." Edward quietly said.

"Alice kept an eye out for them and she saw them four hours before they were going to arrive on our doorstep. Everyone wanted me to leave but I wasn't too thrilled about it, you know how much I hate Alice looking into my future. Sure it helps us survive and lets us know anything troubling that may come our way but it's the fact that Alice knows what we're going to do before we even do it that I don't like. It makes me feel like I don't have any free choice which is rather ridiculous… Especially on that particular day and time was ticking, I was adamant about not going but Emmett along with Jasper and Carlisle dragged me out of the house and took me somewhere safe so I wouldn't hurt anyone. We can stop you from hurting her Edward…" Paige replied in a rather determined manner as if she had to go hunting with Edward everyday when the Swan girl arrived or stick to Edward's side like they were attached to each other then she would. She would do whatever it took to not let him harm this girl.

"It's different Paige and you know it, you haven't tasted it." Edward gritted through his teeth, the it being human bloody. Paige knew that Edward had gone nomad for a few years during the late twenties and early thirties, long before her time. Back then it had only been Carlisle, Edward and Esme who had been a vampire for six years.

"Doesn't matter." Paige curtly said as she thought about the vision that Alice had of her killing two innocent humans twenty three years ago. Paige also pictured Emmett and Jasper grabbing her by both arms and dragging her out of their house with Carlisle following close behind the. Paige knew that Edward would see them as he couldn't turn his ability off. She wanted flood his mind with those images, to make him understand that these things could be prevented.

"Stop it Paige!" Edward snarled and Paige didn't even blink in surprise, she knew he was bound to lose his temper eventually but even then she wasn't scared on him.

"You are not as alone as you make yourself out to be Edward. You have me, you have a family that want to help you but your being really stubborn and annoying about it. I think you've been spending too much time with Rose!" Paige quipped which seemed to do the trick as it caused Edward to quietly chuckle.

"I don't want to hurt her." Edward quietly admitted.

"I know you don't. I won't you let you hurt her Edward; I will do everything in my power to not let that happen. If I have to restrain you myself then I'll do it. You'll hate me for it but you'll get over it, I know I did." Paige lightly said trying to keep Edward's mood up.

"About that… Do you think you'd be able to see something?" Edward asked and Paige took a sharp intake of breath at the suggestion. "Fitz…

"I'm trying to help but you know it doesn't work like that Ed, I need something of hers to make a connection and I don't have anything. And Carlisle would rather me not break into Chief Swan's house, so we just have to wait. As soon as Isabella Swan gets here, if she so much as picks up a book or touches a desk then I will find out everything I can for you." Paige offered.

"What about me?"

Paige bit her lip, she wasn't exactly sure that Edward was suggesting. "Excuse me?"

"Fitz when you touch something you can see information about an object, you can see events and the history of an object. You said yourself to see something from Isabella Swan you would need a connection so what if I was that connection? We're already connected by Alice's vision…" Edward began.

"Ed that is a stretch and I don't know whether I could actually do that. I'm not Alice; I don't see the future all the time. I see it occasionally and even then it's not too far…" Paige wearily said.

"Please Fitz, all I'm asking ids for you to just try."

"Are you sure?" Paige asked, although she wasn't exactly a hundred percent sure on this, she was willing to give it a try if Edward was.

"I am." Edward replied holding his hand out to Paige and taking a very deep breath she took his hand, making sure she had a good grip on it before closing her eyes. Here goes nothing, Paige dismally thought as closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on Bella and Edward.

Paige couldn't have been holding on to Edward's hand for more than ten seconds at the very most when she felt something tugging her, she didn't what it was but something from behind her was pulling her back. Moments later Paige was off her feet and got set flying about fifty yards back, taking down a good couple of trees back with his some of which had been snapped in half due to her vampire strength colliding with them. Opening her eyes Paige saw a hand extended out towards her and knowing that it was Edward's she took it and allowed him to help her up. Paige had to rotate her neck a couple of times before she heard it snap back into place, that had hurt more than she had liked.

"You okay Fitz?" Edward asked.

"Just peachy, for the most part…" Paige replied as she looked down to see that a part of the tree had impaled her in the chest, right underneath her rib cage and knowing it had to come out. Paige pulled it out quickly like it was a band aid but instead of idly tossing it to the side she knew she had to keep it for now and burn it when she got home due to it being coated in venom and god forbid she didn't want anyone i.e a dog to come across this and die from the venom. Looking around Paige was slightly taken aback by the damaged she had done. Bloody trees never stood a chance. "But the tree's on the other hand, not so much…"

"What happened?" Edward questioned and it was a very good question although Paige wasn't a hundred percent clear on what had caused this little mess she had a working theory.

"Lots of things Edward, firstly I don't think there wasn't a strong connection because technically there isn't a connection in the first place. You and the Swan girl are only connected by Alice's vision and nothing else, you haven't met… So I can't get a read off you about her and secondly I think the reason I was impaled by a tree was because I was forcing something that wasn't there. The way I see it in my head is like we were polar opposites forcing each other to attract like magnets and eventually we were forced apart. It's complicated…" Paige said sounding rather deranged but it made sense in her head although she's have to double check with Carlisle about that later but she still thought she was right.

"Did you see anything?"

Paige didn't say anything at first. "Did you see anything?"

"I'm not you Paige, I'm not used to see things like that in my mind… There was too much, that I don't think I even saw anything as it was all pretty much blurry to me." Edward explained with a frown before looking back up at Paige. "What about you?"

Paige couldn't explain what she saw to Edward because she wasn't even sure what she had seen to begin with. It had went by so fast even for her that it was going to take time to process it all. She didn't want Edward to know what she had seen before she had figured it for herself so she forced herself to think of something else given that Edward literally couldn't help himself when it come to reading people's mind. Whilst Paige knew that he had no control over, for the moment she'd prefer if Edward didn't read her mind about what had just happened so instead she forced herself to think in Gaelic. Edward may be over a hundred years old and fluent in many languages but irish gaelic was not one one them.

"Are you sure your okay Fitz?" Edward asked again and Paige knew that he was feeling guilty about what happened. It was typical Edward, to feel guilty for something that was no way or shape his thought.

"I'm fine Edward, although Alice is going to freak out when she see's this shirt… There's no way I can quietly sneak in and get changed without her realizing, oh well! It's just a shirt." Paige said giving Edward a bright smile.

"I'm sorry.""

Paige lightly slapped Edward's cheek in an affectionate manner "Don't be. I wanted to help and I gave this idea a try knowing that it may not work but it doesn't mean we're out of ideas. I wanted to help you Edward and I still do, we'll just have to wait a bit longer or I could break into Charlie's Swan's house."

"I thought you said Carlisle would prefer it if you didn't break into Chief's Swan's house…" Edward wearily questioned and Paige could see this where this was going.

"And he did tell me that but look Chief Swan has a better connection to his daughter than you Edward… No offense but it's true given that he's her father. I can break in and find something that'll help me make a better connection, Chief Swan probably has something that belongs to Bella or photos, which I can use. It's your call Edward, you want me to do it and I'll do it… Carlisle and Chief Swan will never know." Paige offered and the look she saw in Edward's eyes was conflicted, a part of him wanted answers about Bella Swan but another part of him didn't want to go against what Carlisle had told her. Paige knew there must be a reason that Carlisle didn't want her to break into Chief Swan's house but at the moment she was struggling to see it when Edward was in so much conflict.

"Paige, Carlisle asked you not to it…"

"I know he did Edward and trust me I'm one for listening to Carlisle as he knows best. But would Carlisle rather me commit breaking and entering or have the police chief's daughter and only child murdered? As much as I don't want to go against Carlisle, it's all about the bigger picture here and I willing to do what's necessary to save you and for our family to remain here… "


End file.
